Excerpt from UW News: “Thousands of whales are injured or killed each year after being struck by ships, particularly the large container vessels that ferry 80% of the world’s traded goods across the oceans. Collisions are the leading cause of death worldwide for large whale species. Yet global data on ship strikes of whales are hard to come by — […]
Ship collision risk threatens whales across the world’s oceans Read More »
Summary adapted from social media post by Anna Testorf: One of our recent studies illustrates how noise from large ships and other vessels decreases overall foraging success of fish-eating killer whales through a process known as auditory masking. Knowing how vessel noise affects killer whales can inform actions to mitigate noise and promote health and survival of these vulnerable populations
“Social information is predicted to enhance the quality of animals’ migratory decisions in dynamic ecosystems, but the relative benefits of social information in the long-range movements of marine megafauna are unknown. In particular, whether and how migrants use nonlocal information gained through social communication at the large spatial scale of oceanic ecosystems remains unclear. […]” Authors: Stephanie Dodson, William K.
Long-distance communication can enable collective migration in a dynamic seascape Read More »
Authors: Elliott L. Hazen, Matthew S. Savoca T.J. Clark-Wolf, Max Czapanskiy, Peter M. Rabinowitz, and Briana AbrahmsJournal: Annual Review of Environment and ResourcesDOI: https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-environ-111522-102317 “Sentinel species, from birds to invertebrates, have been used to provide insights into ecosystem function, as leading indicators of risk to human health and as harbingers of future change, with implications for ecosystem structure and function.
Ecosystem Sentinels as Early-Warning Indicators in the Anthropocene Read More »
Written by Dr. Anna Nisi We have been building cutting-edge models of species distributions for four great whale species – blue, fin, sperm, and humpback whales. One key threat to the great whales is collisions with shipping vessels, and identifying places where ship-strike risk is high is essential for informing mitigation actions like vessel slow-downs. Our next step is to
Using the power of models to protect whales from possible ship-strikes Read More »
Excerpt: “Here we bring together sighting data from aerial and shipboard surveys in the southern and central Chukchi Sea, as well as recent sightings of humpback whales near Utqiagvik, Alaska to document these observations more fully. Authors: Kathleen M. Stafford, John C. George, Qaiyaan Harcharek, Sue E. MooreJournal: Marine Mammal ScienceDOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/mms.13051 Photo credit: Dr. Mridula Srinivasan NOAA/NMFS/OST/AMD [Humpback whale breaching. ]
Humpback whale sightings in northern Arctic Alaska Read More »
Authors: Sue E MooreJournal: ICES Journal of Marine ScienceDOI: 0.1093/icesjms/fsad030 I describe my path through a series of opportunities that provided stepping stones from childhood years in the landlocked US Midwest to a 45-year-long career focused on cetacean behaviour and ecology…
Chasing inter-species communication: what marine mammals are telling us about our oceans Read More »
Authors: Jennifer B Tennessen, Marla M Holt, Brianna M Wright, M Bradley Hanson, Candice K Emmons, Deborah A Giles, Jeffrey T Hogan, Sheila J Thornton, Volker B DeeckeJournal: Behavioral EcologyDOI: 10.1093/beheco/arad002Coverage: The Seattle Times, Skagit Valley Herald, Seattle King 5 News, KUOW Public Radio, Oregon Public Broadcasting’s “Think Out Loud”, Victoria Times Colonist, North Shore News
Divergent foraging strategies between populations of sympatric matrilineal killer whales Read More »
Authors: Leena Riekkola, Owen R. Liu, Blake E. Feist, Karin A. Forney, Briana Abrahms, Elliott L. Hazen, Jameal F. SamhouriJournal: Biological ConservationDOI: 10.1016/j.biocon.2022.109880 Recovering marine animal populations and climate-driven shifts in their distributions are colliding with growing ocean use by humans…
From the abstract: “We discuss potential impacts of observed and inferred prey shifts on gray whale nutrition in the context of an ongoing unusual gray whale mortality event. To conclude, we use the conceptual Arctic Marine Pulses (AMP) model to frame hypotheses that may guide future research on whales in the Pacific Arctic marine ecosystem.” Authors: Sue E. Moore, Janet
